Online Extras

MORE ON THE BLOG: To read more about college sports on the On Campus blog, click here.

EDINBORO -- A career-high effort from one player and the return of another sparked Gannon to an impressive 86-63 win against PSAC West rival Edinboro before 1,534 fans at McComb Fieldhouse Wednesday.

Little-used Algeron Torrence scored a game-high 24 points while Erie native Adam Blazek returned from a broken hand to score 15 in the rout.

"Coach always emphasizes that I just lay it all out there because this could be my last game," Torrence said. "I figured I'd just go out there and give it my all and see what happens."

Gannon (13-3, 7-3) led by as many as 25 points.

"The last 12 minutes, they just took it to us," Edinboro coach Greg Walcavich said.

Torrence came into game averaging 4.6 points. He didn't score in Gannon's last game at West Chester, but proved to be the difference against Edinboro.

"The amount of scoring he gets is kind of tied into the amount of minutes that he gets," said Walcavich about Torrence, who averaged 8.6 minutes a game. "There aren't too many of them sitting on the bench and scoring too much. They let loose and go out there and play."

As for Blazek, the sophomore guard missed nine games after injuring his hand against East Stroudsburg on Dec. 2. Wearing a cast on his right hand, this was the lefty's first game back.

"I'm so happy to be back on the court with my teammates," the Cathedral Prep graduate said. "It's tough sitting out."

Blazek was 3-of-6 from 3-point range and grabbed six rebounds.

"Blazek is really an important player," said Gannon senior Darrell Blanton, who had 18 points. "He's probably our best player. What we were missing from him was getting the loose balls."

As for Edinboro, it lost more than just the game.

Junior center Bryan Theriot and senior guard Jay Fletcher both got hurt in the second half. Theriot's right knee appeared to give out after making a post move while Fletcher injured his back.

"We can't talk about who didn't and did play," Walcavich said. "I can't get myself to go there. Clearly, we're better if we have everybody on the team, but the job is to be good with who you have."

Theriot, who had 16 points, left the game with Edinboro trailing 45-42 with 13 minutes, 32 seconds left. The Scots got within two, 47-45, on a Johnathan Logan 3-pointer before Gannon erupted with a 14-0 spurt.

"We started getting hands on the ball, we got stops and got easy baskets," said Gannon coach John Reilly, whose team scored 17 points off 14 Edinboro turnovers.

Torrence scored eight points in the run that included a one-handed dunk off a turnover following an Edinboro timeout that lit a fire in the Gannon bench.

"We always joke around about who gets the most dunks," Torrence said. "Obviously Darrell gets the most dunks, but I was like, 'I'm going to get a dunk one game.' Today just happened to be the day. That's why they reacted like that."

DUANE RANKIN can be reached at 878-2210 or by e-mail. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/DuaneRankin.

Online Extras

MORE ON THE BLOG: To read more about college sports on the On Campus blog, click here.